LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Kentucky House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve the local option sales tax Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer has been pushing.

The senate approval is still needed to pass the bill, which would then put the decision in the hands of voters in the 2016 general election.

It gives communities the ability to vote on whether they want to raise money for a specific project through a one-cent sales tax increase. Then once the project is built, the tax goes away.

The measure passed in the senate 62-35, with local representatives Jim Wayne and Larry Clark voting against it.

Wayne called the measure a "regressive tax."

"It's an upside down tax where the people in the lower income areas -- those people making say $40,000 or less per year -- are paying a disproportionate amount of their money in sales tax as compared to the wealthy," Wayne said.

Mayor Greg Fischer has been pushing for the bill's passage saying it would help Louisville have the money to spend on special projects.

"We have to invest in our city to compete with other cities," Mayor Fischer said. "I'm a business guy and business have got to invest to win and cities are the same way."